Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Ford offers honest, moving, and compassionate portraits of modern existence in the stories "Communist," "Reunion," "Calling," "Occidentals," and "Rock Springs"; excerpts from The Sportswriter, Independence Day, and "Piece of My Heart"; and, for the first time in book fo[...]

Of the two hundred stories that Anton Chekhov wrote, the twenty stories that appear in this extraordinary collection were personally chosen by Richard Ford—an accomplished storyteller in his own right. Included are the familiar masterpieces—"The Kiss," "The Darling," and "The Lady with th[...]

"First, I'll tell about the robbery our parents committed. Then about the murders, which happened later."Then fifteen-year-old Dell Parsons' parents rob a bank, his sense of normal life is forever altered. In an instant, this private cataclysm drives his life into before and after, a threshold that [...]

This vital collection of stories about work will be a lasting chronicle of how Americans are employed, how they find work and leave it, refuse it or scorn it, how it defines, fascinates, frustrates and ennobles us. Richard Ford's anthology is not only compelling, but extremely timely. During this ha[...]

In his trio of critically acclaimed, bestselling novels, Richard Ford illuminated the zeitgeist of an entire generation through the divinings and wit of his now-famous literary chronicler, Frank Bascombe--one of the most indelible and provocative characters in modern American literature. In Let Me B[...]

Maine is a place that inspires lifelong devotion in visitors and residents alike. It is a place that encompasses many worlds within its boundaries--mountains and lakes, rivers and forests, a dramatic coastline--and supports a unique way of life influenced by both geography and climate. Maine: The Se[...]

Ford's mesmerizing first novel is the story of two godless pilgrims. Robard Hewes has driven across the country in the service of a destructive passion. Sam Newell is seeking the missing piece of himself. When these men converge, on an uncharted island in the Mississippi, each discovers the thing he[...]

As a sportswriter, Frank Bascombe makes his living studying people--men, mostly--who live entirely within themselves. This is a condition that Frank himself aspires to. But at thirty-eight, he suffers from incurable dreaminess, occasional pounding of the heart, and the not-too-distant losses of a ca[...]

Richard Ford's Independence Day--his sequel to The Sportswriter, and an international bestseller--is the only novel ever to have received both the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award. Now, with Women With Men, he reaffirms his mastery of shorter fiction with his first collection since the wide[...]

Frank Bascombe has a younger girlfriend and a job as a sportswriter. To many men of his age, thirty-eight, this would be a cause for optimism, yet Frank feels the pull of his inner despair and especially of his recent losses - his preferred career has ended, his wife has divorced him, and a tragic a[...]

Frank Bascombe, in the aftermath of his divorce and the ruin of his career, has entered an 'Existence Period' - selling real estate in New Jersey and mastering the high-wire act of normalcy. But, over one Fourth of July weekend, Frank is called into sudden, bewildering engagement with life. "Indepen[...]

In each of these tales, master storyteller Richard Ford is drawn to the themes of intimacy, love, and their failures. An illicit visit to the Grand Canyon reveals a vastness even more profound; an exacting career woman celebrates Christmas with her adamantly post-nuclear family; a couple weekending [...]